Any way to compile a java program with missing sources?

[kahrayzee]

Hi,

I am stuck maintaining an old product that is missing a large set of
the original source files. I need to make a tiny modification to a
section of code that I actually do have the accurate source for,
however I am unable to compile it without the entire classpath and all
setup. Is there perhaps some way to either trick javac into only
compiling this one file without rebuilding everything else with a
parameter to tell it not to do this?

I am getting a lot of "Cannot resolve symbol" errors. What I would
ultimately like to be able to do is to re-compile this one class and
then put it into the correct location in the .jar file and see if it
behaves properly. If anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[Andrew Thompson]

On Mar 29, 1:04 am, (e-mail address removed) wrote:
...

I am stuck maintaining an old product that is missing a large set of
the original source files. I need to make a tiny modification to a
section of code that I actually do have the accurate source for,

You can compile the source, using the existing
*classes* for reference. Simply ensure they are
on the classpath at time of compilation.

Andrew T.

 

[Ingo R. Homann]

Hi,

I am stuck maintaining an old product that is missing a large set of
the original source files. I need to make a tiny modification to a
section of code that I actually do have the accurate source for,
however I am unable to compile it without the entire classpath and all
setup. Is there perhaps some way to either trick javac into only
compiling this one file without rebuilding everything else with a
parameter to tell it not to do this?

I am getting a lot of "Cannot resolve symbol" errors. What I would
ultimately like to be able to do is to re-compile this one class and
then put it into the correct location in the .jar file and see if it
behaves properly. If anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly
appreciated.

Every Java programmer does this every day! (Or do you think, that
compiling a "Hello world"-Programm will re-compile the whole Java-API?)

The "trick" ist to setup the classpath correctly while compiling, that
means to let it point to your JAR file.

Hth,
Ingo